A common complaint among my generation is just being… tired, continually. Who can blame them, considering the current state of society? We live in an era of constant consumption, whether it’s the news, short-term content through Reels, or just buying “must haves” peddled by wannabe QVC presenters. This content can be innocuous when viewed alone, but for far too many, it eats up almost all their leisure time. The effects of this mindless stream of nothing are extremely apparent and devastating: poor long-term planning, a reduced attention span, and a deep-seated feeling of being unfulfilled.

It’s easy to finger-wag and act like you’re above this particular set of bad habits and overconsumption, but what does that truly accomplish? At best, that’s punching down at a group of people just trying to cope with the immense weight of life’s problems, the majority of which wouldn’t listen to you. Rather, the aim is to explore how Islam views rest and how we can transform how we use our downtime to feel calm and fulfilled.

The first thing to remember is that even to Non-Muslims, time is the most valuable resource at your disposal. Every tech company is vying for it in some capacity, whether it’s constant notifications begging for you to look at them or brightly colored shorts filled with useless products from a nightmarishly unethical drop-shipping website; they all want it. This is not to scare you; rather it is to highlight how precious the gift Allah gave you is.

There is a well-known hadith touching upon this matter that states:

“The Prophet said: ‘Take advantage of five matters before five other matters: your youth before you become old; your health, before you fall sick; your wealth, before you become poor; your free time before you become preoccupied, and your life, before your death.’ “

The thing that might stick out to you immediately is that this beautiful hadith refers to time and freedom. Allah chooses to obscure how much of both we have left. The purposes of this that stick out to me the most are to remind us of our place as Muslims and to prevent procrastination. There are two ills young people specifically fall into believing that our time will never run out and that our efforts are meaningless. As a woman in her early 20s, I can relate to both of these fallacies deeply, but neither statement has a modicum of truth. By letting them go and taking steps to take control of how we use our free time for Allah, we are not only going to be earning deeds but we’ll find that your energy levels may increase and you’ll feel a healthy pride.

It’s hard to figure out where we should use our time when we have limited energy after dealing with work or familial commitments but hobbies do not need to be extensive or require expensive supplies even writing a few paragraphs every day can make a small difference. The important thing is just to try something.